- Capt Molo
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Xbox Live launched November 15th, 2002 but I didn't join the fun until Christmas. I was nothing more than a 16 year old boy who had heard about the future of gaming through this a gaming magazine that had a piece about Halo CE, and it was through Bungie.net that I met my first group of XBL friends. I jumped in Star Wars Battlefront for my very first game, and was amazed by what I saw. The ability to play video games with people without having to go to their houses was unfathomable to me. Over the course of that first year, I made many new friends, saw the introduction of DLC, and then fell in love with the original Xbox and started what has since been a life long love affair with the online games.
Then Halo 2 came out, and it changed everything.
Now, I do feel some of the earlier games haven't received the lovin that they deserve. Everyone has made a big deal over the loss of Halo 2 but hardly anyone has mentioned Bloodwake or Battlefront or Mech Assault. Halo 2 was different than those other games, and I'm sure everyone has their own reasons why. Nothing will ever top the competitive gaming I had in Bloodwake, as I literally was a beast in a speedboat with mounted guns and rockets. So what made Halo 2, well, Halo 2?
Halo 2 hit me during that weird time in my life where I was too young to have any real responsibilities but I was too old to be a child. That's the time in my life when I had the most free time, and Halo 2 filled that void. For starters, Halo 2 would not have been what it was without Bungie. Bungie changed the face of XBL forever. Between their matchmaking, constant updates, DLC, stat tracking, and even incorporating Halo 2's features in through their website, Bungie cared in a way that no other game developer had shown before. But we all know that or we would not be here. The purpose of this post was not to thank Bungie. This is my 5th year here. I'm not going anywhere. If I didn't appreciate what Bungie has done, I would have packed up and left a long time ago. Bungie continues to show their appreciation for their fans through their little messages in their games and videos, but they know the feeling is mutual. The numbers don't lie. I didn't play thousand of games of Halo 2 over two XBL accounts because I hated it. But there is something deeper about Halo 2. Something that is often overlooked and not mentioned. Something that even Bungie could not have foreseen. For all they did with Halo 2, they continued on with and improved in Halo 3. But Halo 3 is not and never will be Halo 2 in my eyes and the eyes of many, and it isn't because Bungie stopped caring. The difference between Halo 2 and every other video game I have ever played is simple.
The difference is you.
The community for Halo 2 has been unlike anything I've ever witnessed before. Anytime I jumped on xbox live from 2004 until as recently as 2007, it was guaranteed that at least a dozen of my friends would be online and ready to play. Thats almost 3 solid years of top notch game play. Think of all the grenades you've thrown, head shots you've made, and flags you've captured. They outnumber the blue screens you were standbyed in, and the glitchers you faced. I've easily played over ten thousand games on Xbox Live, and they were always more fun when they were played with you guys. The kills, the wins, the jokes... it's all been fun. I know it's not over, but the closing of Halo 2 and all the original titles with it signifies the end of an era. It's an era we will only be able to relive in our minds and in our hearts, and its a place that although we'll never be able to go back to, it'll always leave a warm feeling.
Ironically enough, I barely play Halo 2 or any other orginal Xbox titles online anymore, and it took the closing down of the old games to drag me back onto many games I had not played in years and probably would not have played if it were not for this event. So in a way, I'm glad they shut it down. This way I'd be able to say good bye on my terms. I'm 21 years old now yet I've seen more than my share of online gaming. Things will never be as they once were. I'll never have the free time I had, and I'll never lack the responsibilities again, but I'm fine with that. The one thing that I'm going to miss the most is the time I've spent with you guys. We've all come a long way in the last 5 years, even those of us that had come a long way prior to Halo 2. I don't get to talk to you guys or shoot with you guys or joke with you guys as much as we used to, and it might never be as frequent again, but when I think of Halo 2 I don't think of the cheaters or the head shots or the leveling up.
I think of you.
So thanks.